Washington, D.C. – The number of public charter schools operating in the United States has surpassed 6,000 for the first time in the 20-year effort to provide innovative alternatives to traditional public schools, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools announced today. These new figures are based on estimates from the 2012-13 school year. The 6,000 public charter schools are now educating more than 2.3 million students – also a record number – in the current school year.

The public charter school movement had a net gain of 381 schools for the 2012-13 school year. Charter schools are enrolling 275,000 more students this year than in 2011-12 – the largest single-year increase since the movement’s inception.

“The growth of the public charter sector continues because parents are demanding quality options for their children,” said Nina Rees, the president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “Charter leaders are opening schools to respond to parents and to provide more students with a quality education that meets their needs.”